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At Market

The Green Table occupies one of the unlikelier (and tinier) restaurant spaces in Manhattan: a shallow storefront in the middle of Chelsea Market, the cavernous, exposed-brick indoor shopping alley that runs from Ninth Avenue to Tenth on Fifteenth Street. (The building also houses, on its upper floors, such legendary tenants as Sterling Sound, the music-production house where Radiohead mastered its latest album.)

The eatery, an offshoot of the Cleaver Co., a caterer that specializes in sustainable cuisine, offers unpretentious, classic American dishes with ingredients sourced from local farms. Organic macaroni pasta is melded with four kinds of cheese (goat, colby, cheddar, and parmesan); a voluptuous grilled-cheese sandwich, tricked out with, variously, apple, pear, or caramelized onions, balances ooziness with the fluffiness of slabs of sourdough bread (baked fresh at Amy’s, just across the alley).

But perhaps the best bet—while winter lasts, at least—is the pot pie, which comes in two forms, vegetarian and free-range chicken. (A crayfish version is available for takeout at the shop next door.) It’s served in eggshell-brown crockery, with a lid of flaky crust embossed with the silhouette of a hen or a mushroom, perky as a refugee from “Fantasia.” The chicken is topped with buttery pâte brisée, the vegetarian a more saintly whole wheat—but in both cases the interior is steamy and full-bodied, with the kind of satisfyingly thick texture made possible only by heavy cream. Lest this make you feel sinful, each serving includes a plentiful side of greens that taste like they’ve just been uprooted from the farm.

75 Ninth Ave., at 15th St. (212-741-9174). Open Mondays through Saturdays for lunch and dinner, Sundays for brunch; entrées $10-$20.—Ligaya Mishan

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